


Caught in the Act

by Poetgirl925



Series: Caught in the Act [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Romance, Sexual Content, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poetgirl925/pseuds/Poetgirl925
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity finds a very interesting fan site dedicated to the Arrow that sends her imagination into overdrive. When Oliver discovers what's been making her so flustered, she's surprised by his reaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

****

Felicity sat back in her chair and stretched.  It was Friday night, a night when most girls her age were out with boyfriends or at home with boyfriends.  Or maybe they were out with husbands or at home with husbands and kids.  She, however, was in the basement at Verdant running programs and searches and guiding Oliver through his patrol of the Glades.

Not that she actually wanted a husband.  Or kids for that matter.  Not now, anyway.  She barely had time to eat and go to the bathroom most days.  Between her job handling Oliver Queen’s business affairs as CEO of Queen Consolidated and her other job aiding him in his nightly vigilante activities, she certainly didn’t have time for a husband.  A boyfriend might be nice though. 

She’d tried dating since Oliver’s return eighteen months ago.  A couple of guys had shown potential but never stuck around long when faced with her insane schedule.  Oliver’s near constant presence in her life, whether in person or via text and phone, was also a mood killer.  She’d had a string of disastrous dates that had tempted her to swear off men and give women a try.  When she’d voiced that rather loudly one night over pizza in the basement, Diggle and Sara had been amused.  Oliver, on the other hand, tended to get irritated when she discussed her dates.

Things between her and Oliver had since reached a level of complicated she had no experience with and which usually left her baffled.  They’d grown close very quickly after he took over as CEO.  They spent most of their waking hours together and at this point he, Sara and Diggle were her best friends.  Her only friends, really.

Her relationship with Oliver was complex, and it hadn’t stayed strictly in the realm of friendship.  The very nature of their lives meant they got most of their support – emotional and otherwise – from each other.  Oliver was stoic and closed off with much of the world, but he let his guard down with her, showing a vulnerability and softness that made her heart ache in the best possible way.  She knew he needed that, and she made herself available at times when she felt he needed it the most.

Of course, there had been other women in Oliver’s life.  They were kept on the periphery; brief sexual relationships that she supposed served their purpose.  The first was Isabel, and she hadn’t forgotten the sting upon seeing the other woman slink confidently out of his hotel room in Russia.  She wasn’t certain they’d continued their – whatever they called it – after Russia, but she suspected they had. 

There were the models and socialites who accompanied him to benefits and galas – an endless string of willowy brunettes offset by the occasional blonde or redhead whose faces sort of melded together after a while.  It had bothered her at first, but gradually she’d become desensitized to the tabloid photos and entertainment news blurbs when he was rarely photographed with the same woman for more than a few weeks.

Then six months ago, just after she’d attempted to stop a mugging and been hospitalized for her trouble, he’d started randomly showing up at her apartment on off evenings and weekends.  Sometimes he brought food or a movie, and sometimes they just went for a walk and talked.  Dinners out in low key, casual settings followed, and it gradually occurred to Felicity that they were dating.  They weren’t calling it that, but that’s certainly what it seemed like.  It had been both highly charged and strangely platonic as she waited to see if he would cross the line he’d previously drawn. 

He hadn’t.  A couple of months after it began it ended with no explanations from him as to what was going on in his head.  She’d veered from confused to hurt to angry in a matter of days before swinging back to hurt.  Because for the first time, she’d had hope, and then that hope was yanked away without warning. 

Four months later, they were pretty much back to status quo – so long as status quo included catching him staring at her in increasingly brooding ways.  He always shook it off pretty fast, but he wasn’t really fooling her that things were back to normal between them.  Diggle seemed aware of the change though he chose not to push either of them to talk about it.  Even Sara, who’d recently arrived from Gotham, had noticed something different, and her smirking, speculative gaze followed them around the foundry whenever she was there.

A beeping noise interrupted her thoughts, and she turned up the dial on the police frequency she was monitoring.  After listening for a moment, she tapped the small button on her earpiece.  “Where are you?”

“Near Broad,” he replied in the distorted voice that belonged to the Arrow.

She found that voice slightly creepy, but conversely it was a turn on as well.  She really needed help.

“There’s a burglary in progress on the corner of Sixth and Broad, so you’re close.  May want to check it out.”

He didn’t reply but she knew he was already on the move, so she turned her attention back to her monitors while keeping their connection open.  Needing a break from staring at the search programs and lines of code, she pulled up the fan site dedicated to the Arrow that she’d begun monitoring after it sprang up a few months ago. 

The fan site contained stories from people who’d had encounters with the vigilante as well as reports of sightings and had at first alarmed her, especially when a few blurry photos of Oliver in action began popping up.  Even with the mask he now wore, she worried that someone might get a good enough look under the hood to recognize him.  With that worry in mind, she began planting a few fan photos of her own, digitally altered to change the line of his jaw.  She’d even hooked his nose slightly in a few, pleased when the result was a significantly altered profile.

She’d monitored the site for months now and hadn’t really found anything to worry about.  Tonight was no different.  There was a new witness report, and she giggled when she saw his age described as late thirties.  She guessed that mask and scruffy jaw were doing their intended jobs after all. 

The site occasionally posted links to other sites containing vigilante news.  Felicity checked all the links, and she’d recently set up searches to notify her when anything new was posted online regarding Starling City’s resident hero.  And he was called that by many now – a hero.  Oliver might not buy into it, but she certainly did.  She had ever since she’d met him or else she wouldn’t have stayed.

Checking the links, she noticed a new header titled ‘Arrow Fan Fiction’ and her brow wrinkled.  She knew what fan fiction was of course, but she hadn’t realized anyone was writing it about the Arrow.  But then Felicity figured it was to be expected since she’d noticed an increasing amount of fangirling online in response to stories of Oliver’s exploits.  Apparently archers were in at the moment.

She idly clicked the link and then stared, wide eyed, at a few of the titles: Rooftop Liaisons, Caught in the Act, Red Handed, Arrowed – the list went on, all of them rated for mature readers.  Holy crap – it looked like ninety percent porn with plot.

 _Don’t click_ , she commanded herself.  _Remember the summer you spent reading Harry Potter fan fiction?  You clicked that M rated story about Harry and Luna and it was months before you could watch the last few movies again without feeling embarrassed.  So imagine how you’ll feel having to see and talk to Oliver EVERY DAY after reading vigilante smut stories.  DO NOT CLICK!_

She clicked.  It was the one at the top of the list called ‘Rooftop Liaisons’ and she soon found herself sucked into a surprisingly well written short story featuring the Arrow and his latest rescued damsel, who was so grateful that she didn’t mind when he swung her up to a nearby rooftop and… she swallowed hard.

_I felt the rough scrape of the brick against my shoulders as he pressed me back against the wall and leaned into me, his mask and the night shadows hiding his features.  I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel him – his hands moving down to my hips, angling me towards him.  The hard thrust of his…_

“What’s wrong?”  Oliver’s gravelly voice startled her.

Felicity shrieked and jumped.  “What?”

“You made a weird noise.  Is something wrong?”

Yes, everything was wrong now because all she could think about was Oliver in his Arrow gear pushing her back against a wall and…  “Yes.  I mean no.  I mean I was checking my searches and I think maybe I’ve been staring at the screens too long.  And aren’t you supposed to be tying up the bad guys right about now?”

“Cops got there first,” he said.  “I’m headed back.”

“Okay.”  She muted her com link and propped her elbows on the desk before burying her face in her hands.

“If you’re going to read Arrow smut, you should probably do it at home.”

Felicity shrieked again and jerked backwards violently, one hand to her chest.

Sara stood behind her, arms crossed and looking at her with amused curiosity.  “I wouldn’t have taken you for that kind of reading.”

Heart racing wildly, Felicity took a deep breath and tried to calm down.  “Between you and Oliver, I am going to have a heart attack before my next birthday.  How many times have I told you not to do that?”

“To be fair, I said something when I came in but you were very engrossed in your story,” Sara teased her.  “Then Ollie called you on the com link.  Does he know he has fan sites and groupies now?”

Felicity laughed.  “Yeah.  His ego needs that boost.  And I only check these links to make sure no one’s getting too close or posting photos that have identifiable details.  This is the first time I’ve seen the link to the stories, so that part must be new.”

“You should check out ‘Gotham Nights,’ Sara told her.  “Half the stories have me running around in fishnets and stilettos when I chase down the bad guys and have my way with them.  And I’ve been linked to every other known vigilante, Ollie included.  Apparently Arrow and Canary have quite the torrid fling going on.”

“Seriously?”  Felicity made a mental note to widen her search to Sara and Canary.  “I would have thought Gotham would be more about the Batman.”

Sara shrugged.  “Guess no one likes the ears.  You finished?  I thought we might grab a drink before you head home.”

“Sure.”  She could definitely use a drink now.  She had a feeling sleep would be a long time coming that night.

They both turned as they heard Oliver coming in.

“You might want to close out that screen,” Sara murmured, watching Oliver set his bow and quiver on the table.

“Oh my God!”  Felicity spun so quickly that her chair slid sideways, and she grabbed the table edge to right herself before clicking furiously until all evidence of her smut reading was gone from the screen.  When she turned back around, Oliver was watching her.

Felicity popped up out of her chair, unable to control the blush spreading over her face and neck.  Because Oliver was still dressed as the Arrow, though he’d unzipped the vest to reveal the thin, black Kevlar he wore underneath.  Her mouth went dry as he continued to strip off his Arrow uniform.

Looking at her again, his brows drew together.  “Are you alright?”

No, definitely not.  “Sara and I are going for a drink.  I have to…” she gestured upstairs, “go.”  Well that was articulate.  “Get… uh… yeah.”  Was she wringing her hands?  “It’s nothing.”

Sara grinned when Felicity took off up the stairs, Oliver’s bewildered gaze following her.

“What the hell was that about?”

“You heard her.  She has to go.”  When Oliver raised a brow at her, she shook her head.  “You know, I really thought things were changing between you and Felicity the last time I was here.  But somehow you managed to get all the way back to square one since then.  That takes talent.”

“Sara.”  Oliver shook his head, the warning in his tone clear.

Sara held up her hands.  “Not my business, obviously.  But she’s too good to be sitting around waiting for you to get your shit together.”

He didn’t say anything and Sara sighed, pushing away from the table.  “I’ll see you later.”

She grabbed Felicity’s bag so they wouldn’t have to come back downstairs and made her way up to the club.  The music was loud, and she found Felicity already sitting at the bar.  “You forgot something.”

Felicity snatched the bag.  “Thanks.  I didn’t have the nerve to go back down there.”

Ordering the first round, Sara turned to see Felicity staring at her.  “It’s the hair, huh?”  She’d taken to wearing a long, dark wig when in Starling City in order to keep her identity under wraps.

“It’s weird because I wouldn’t have thought that a wig would change your appearance so much.  It does though.”  Felicity took a long sip of her drink.  “I can’t look at him.”

“Well I guess you have until tomorrow to get over that.  Unless you have the weekend off?”

The blonde snorted and pushed her glasses up.  “Yeah sure.  The last time I had an entire weekend off was so long ago I can’t even remember it.”

“So tell Ollie you need to have a life – get out, have fun, date.”  Sara was beginning to suspect Oliver kept Felicity busy intentionally so that she wouldn’t have time for things like fun and dating.  She remembered Felicity’s last boyfriend – Eric?  The poor guy hadn’t been able to hold up under the pressure of dating Felicity when Oliver was constantly popping up in all areas of her life.

“That never seems to work out for me,” Felicity remarked with a sigh.

“Well, at least buy a vibrator.”

Felicity choked and began coughing.  “I do not need… that.”

“You will if you keep reading those stories.  Trust me.”  Sara winked, smiling again when Felicity’s blush seemed to spread straight down to her toes.  Teasing the blonde genius was the most fun she’d had in weeks.  Gotham was damned dreary, but it suited her on most days.

She spotted Oliver moving through the crowd nearby.  Thea was on vacation with her boyfriend which left Oliver the task of overseeing Verdant for the next week.  It didn’t seem like there were enough hours in the day to do everything he was doing, but he managed it somehow.  Sara figured that was in large part due to the woman currently doodling on her napkin. 

She looked closer to see hearts and arrows and rolled her eyes.  “Okay, time to go.”  She took the napkin from Felicity and crumpled it in her fist before tossing it into the garbage can behind the bar. 

She saw Oliver turn his head to watch them leave.  He never took his eyes off Felicity but he didn’t approach her.  Sara shook her head, wondering exactly what it would take to break through the wall Ollie had thrown up in the last few months.  She’d hate to see him lose the best thing he had in his life.


	2. Chapter 2

****

Saturday was a nightmare.  She’d slept badly the night before, her dreams plagued by images of Oliver touching her in ways wholly inappropriate to their current relationship – whatever that was.  And instead of being able to take a weekend away from him and clear her head, she was cooped up in the foundry trying desperately not to watch him, Diggle and Sara training together. 

God was punishing her.  Maybe for not making it home last Hanukkah or for that time she’d  hacked her cousin’s private Facebook messages and sent them to her parents so they could see exactly what their ‘little angel’ had been up to.  Then again, maybe it was simply for clicking that link when she’d known better in the first place.

By three o'clock she’d had enough.  Since she had the system set up to send alerts to her phone and tablet, she didn’t see the point in sticking around just to watch the progress.  There were other things she could be working on, of course, but Sara was right.  She deserved a break.

“Where are you going?”

Turning to find Sara behind her, Felicity said, “Home.  And maybe I’ll do something non-Team Arrow related for a change.  Like see a movie, or go to an art show, or visit that new café that just opened in City Centre that I’ve heard such great things about.”

“If you want some company, I could do with a movie.  Art shows aren’t really my thing.”  Sara grabbed a towel and began drying off. 

Felicity smiled.  “Yeah.  I mean I guess we never really do that, but I wish we did.  I don’t really have friends anymore.  I used to – you know, before my life included things like hooded vigilantes and chasing the bad guys and hacking into federal databases.  Maybe not best friends, but there were people I hung out with in the IT department before my promotion to Oliver’s assistant-slash-mistress.”

Sara looked confused.  “Mistress?”

“Come on – Oliver Queen, with his reputation, promotes a blonde from the IT department to be his right hand girl after he was seen visiting her frequently in her office the previous year?  A few people thought something was going on before he became CEO, but now it’s the whole company.  Not that I really care.  I mean I do, but in the end what they think doesn’t affect my goals, and I know I’m smarter than all of them.  The only part that really bothers me is that a few of my former co-workers think I’ve lost my mind abandoning my career path for the company playboy.”

“And the others?”

“Think it’s all part of my brilliant plan to fast track into the technology division of Applied Sciences,” Felicity said as she pulled on her jacket and grabbed her bag and tablet.  “But the fact that they think I’d do either one tells me that they never knew me very well.”

“If only they knew the real reason you were hanging around Ollie all the time.  You’d probably have your own little set of groupies – fan boys and fan girls alike panting after the Arrow’s tech girl.  Do any more reading last night?”

Felicity tensed at Sara’s teasing question.  “Your sense of humor is bent, Sara.  Bent.”

“Yeah.  Not the only thing that’s bent.  I’ve learned to live with it.”  Her tone was matter of fact, as if that little tidbit weren’t disturbing at all.  “I’ll come by your apartment at six.”

Sara headed towards the bathroom, and Felicity turned around just as Diggle and Oliver walked over, both still dripping with sweat from the intense workout they’d just completed.  It sent Felicity’s mind down a very dirty path because she actually _had_ read another one of those stories after she got home.  She knew it was wrong and she was probably going to seriously regret ever finding that fan site, but at this point she couldn’t really seem to help herself.  The stories were sexy and horrifying and fascinating and ridiculous and so far out of the realm of possibility as to be humorous, but they still made her toes curl.

And she’d only read one more.  It wasn’t like she’d made her way through the whole list.  Yet.

“Are you leaving?”  Oliver asked.  “I thought we were going to go over the blueprints for the Hightower job.”

For some reason his assumption that she had nothing better to do on a Saturday bothered her more than usual.  “That’s still at least a week away – maybe two.  We have time, right?  And you know, when I agreed to be your girl Wednesday I didn’t realize it meant my personal life was going to go down the tubes.  For you it’s all good since you have an endless parade of women for the Oliver Queen photo op moments of your life, but some of us spend way too much time in this basement.  And wow – I didn’t mean for that to come out so passive aggressive and snarly, but I have a point, and I’m making it.” 

 _Breathe and count_ , she reminded herself, peeking up at Oliver to see what his reaction was to her unplanned rant.  He looked taken aback and something else she couldn’t put her finger on.  Diggle seemed amused but covered it quickly by taking a long drink from the bottle of water he was holding.

“I have plans,” Felicity finally continued.  “Plans with another human being instead of with my computers.  And I’ve officially called tomorrow as a stay-in-bed-until-noon day.  It’s possible I won’t even get dressed.” 

When she noticed how Diggle’s brows shot up at that last statement, she realized how it might be misconstrued.  “Okay, that came out wrong.  I meant… you know what?  It doesn’t matter, but I’ll see you guys on Monday, bright and early and hopefully in a better mood.”

She was halfway to the stairs before she felt Oliver’s hand on her arm.  It was the first time he’d touched her in weeks, and it sent an almost painful sense of awareness scorching through her.  Without thinking she jerked back and away from him, stumbling a little in the process.

Looking concerned, Oliver asked, “Felicity, is something wrong?”

 _Deep breath_.  “No – sorry.  You just startled me.”

He didn’t look like he believed her, but she was relieved when he apparently decided to let it go.  “I have the Art Institute Gala tonight, but call me if you get a hit on Hightower’s money trail.”

“It can wait, though, can’t it?  It’s not like you can do anything about it tonight.  And I don’t want to interrupt one of your dates again.  That got uncomfortable the last time.”  _Understatement_ , she thought, remembering the night she’d had to interrupt – in person, no less – his alone time with one of his arm candy brigade as Sara so mockingly called them.  Actually, it was no wonder she liked Sara.

“It’s not a date.”  Now Oliver looked a little uncomfortable. 

She shrugged and leveled him with a look.  “Doesn’t matter – unless someone is about to level the city again or kill a lot of people, I’m not tracking you down at some random woman’s condo when you don’t answer your phone.  I don’t even know how you explained how I found you the last time.” 

That had been months ago – eight, to be exact.  Realizing she sounded snarky again, she sighed.  “I’m sorry.  I’m a little tired and feeling cooped up and I guess I’m taking it out on you.  I really just need a vacation; and barring a vacation, I need a weekend to decompress now and then when the world’s not ending.  So consider me off duty tonight and tomorrow, okay?  See you Monday!”  She reached out to pat his arm, thought better of it, and hurried up the stairs.

* * *

 

Sara tried not to smile as she watched Oliver grab a towel and run it roughly over his torso.  He was frowning, and she didn’t have to guess why.  “I think it’s good she’s getting out for an evening.”

Oliver was never overt in showing emotion except when it came to Felicity.  And even then he tried to rein in the more telling ones like jealousy.  Still, his hands tightened around the towel for a moment before he threw it on the table.  “Felicity never really mentions any of her friends.”

 _Because she doesn’t have any, you idiot_.  Oliver had never been what one would call intuitive, especially when it came to women.  But the fact that he couldn’t see how hypocritical he was in holding onto Felicity with one hand while playing the field with the other was beginning to irritate Sara on the other woman’s behalf. 

Sara sat down and leaned back in her chair, her shrewd gaze assessing.  “I don’t think she has many friends, Ollie.  But tonight she’s seeing – what was his name?”

Oliver had been checking over his bow but looked up at that.  “Who?”

“That last guy she dated – the cute one who teaches computer science classes at SCU.”

“Eric.”  His jaw clenched a bit.  “I thought she broke it off with him months ago.”

“Actually, he broke up with her right after her hospital visit.  Something about both of them being too busy,” Diggle said.  He was looking at Sara, a knowing expression on his face.

Oliver didn’t comment further, but Sara could see the seed had been planted.  By the time he left to get ready for the gala, he looked like he was in a thoroughly bad mood, and Sara spared a moment of sympathy for the woman who was going to have to put up with him tonight.  It wasn’t really the arm candy brigade’s fault that Oliver Queen was an idiot when it came to his love life. 

After Oliver was gone, Diggle glanced over at Sara and crossed his arms.  “You know you’re playing with fire here.”

Sara stood up, pulled her cap on and grabbed her duffel bag.  “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

* * *

 

By the following Friday, Felicity was ready to kill Oliver.  He’d had her jumping all week, and he was in the kind of pissy mood usually reserved for missions gone south and board meetings from hell.  And she couldn’t even confront him about it because she was doing her best to stay out of his way altogether.

She had to stop looking at the website.  She’d told herself that repeatedly all week even as she continued to read story after story of the Arrow’s sexual escapades around Starling City.  That there were so many woman fantasizing about anonymous sex with a vigilante who, for all they knew, had a questionable moral compass still struck her as weird, but there was no denying he had caused a frenzy in fan girl central. 

Her head was filled with so many smutty images of vigilante Oliver that she did her best not to even look at him when he was wearing the leather anymore.  She distracted herself as best she could at the foundry by listening to music or catching up on TV episodes on her tablet while waiting for information to come through.

At the moment Oliver was out at a business lunch, so the office was blessedly quiet and free of the tension that seemed to infuse their time together lately.  She leaned back in her chair and put her headphones in, determined to relax before Oliver returned.  They had the first part of the Hightower mission that night.  Oliver would sneak into the office and leave the bug Felicity had designed, and they could hopefully gather the rest of the information they needed to turn over to the DA’s office.

Felicity wasn’t looking forward to it for the simple reason that she’d be listening to Oliver on the mission, and she’d probably start picturing him seducing her on rooftops the way she had nearly every night this week while he was patrolling.  She’d also moved her desk and chair a bit so she didn’t have to look at his arrow case – one of the stories had contained a very special trick arrow that had been used in extremely creative ways.  Her ears, and other parts, still burned when she thought about it.

“Felicity?”

She jerked upright to see Moira Queen standing before her.  “Oh, sorry.  I didn’t hear you come in.”  _Probably because I was too busy imagining your son doing things that I should definitely not be thinking about._   She raised her hands to her cheeks for a moment before clearing her throat.  “Oliver’s at a business lunch with the CFO.”

“I know.  And I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch,” she replied, waving to the takeout on Felicity’s desk.  “I just wanted to make sure Oliver remembered to clear his schedule for next Wednesday afternoon.”

Felicity adjusted her glasses and pulled up Oliver’s calendar.  “He didn’t mention anything.”

“We have a few potential investors flying in that afternoon, and I need him to be available.  We both know how much he loves that kind of thing,” Moira remarked drily.

She couldn’t help smiling because it was true – afternoons schmoozing investors and board members ranked high on the list of things Oliver hated, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d attempted to get out of it.  “It’s on his schedule now.  I’ll remind him.”  She didn’t quite make eye contact with the older woman, still feeling embarrassed about her interrupted fantasies.

“Thank you, Felicity.  I’m glad that you’re at least one more person he seems to listen to because I’m aware my son can be quite exasperating at times.”

“Well, to be fair I usually subject him to non-stop nagging until it’s easier to do whatever it is he’s trying to avoid than it is to ignore me.”

Moira smiled back at her.  “Oliver doesn’t seem to mind too much.  He’s often said that he credits you for helping him hold onto the company when he first got back.  And he knows that despite the raise in pay, this job wasn’t really a promotion for you.”

“Oh.”  Felicity hadn’t realized he ever talked about her to his mother.  “I mean, that was Walter.  I just did the research on Isabel and got the numbers together.  Also, he’s on notice that I will _not_ be his executive assistant forever.”

“I don’t imagine you’ll be easily replaced.  Enjoy your lunch.”  Her heels clicked against the floor as she left the office.

 _That was weird_ , she thought.  Moira was always nice to her, and she knew that Felicity and Oliver were friends before he took over the position of CEO, but she’d never directly commented on it before.

When Oliver returned, his mood was no better than it had been when he left and by the time they were able to leave the office, her relief was palpable.  At least driving her car separately meant she didn’t have to sit beside him and feel the heat radiating from him or smell the spicy, slightly woodsy scent of the aftershave he wore.

She kept her eyes on her monitors as Oliver finished suiting up.  He had Sara to back him up so she wasn’t really worried about anything going too wrong.  That didn’t keep her from going over the plan again and again in her head as she tried to head off any potential roadblocks. 

Sara was ready now, and she and Oliver left with Diggle following behind in his car just in case they needed a third in a fight.  She’d seen Sara fight though, and she was deadly – like fear and panic inducing deadly, and she thanked God that she wasn’t another Helena.  She had her issues and her problems, and she was as closed off as Oliver in her own way, but Felicity was slightly touched that the other woman had chosen to reach out to her.  Felicity was awkward in social settings and always had been; but just like Oliver, Sara didn’t seem to mind her rambling.  It had been nice to have another woman to talk to about the crazy that had become her life.

The Hightower job went off without a hitch.  Felicity began monitoring the bug and used the virus Oliver planted to gain access to their mainframe.  _Let the fishing expedition begin_ , she smirked, fingers flying over the keys.  Diggle returned and then left again as she worked, and Sara was back a couple of hours after that.

Pulling off her wig and running her hand through her hair, she leaned against the corner of Felicity’s desk.  “Anything yet?”

“Some browsing history including a bank account we didn’t know about,” Felicity told her.  “I’ll know more over the weekend assuming this big meeting takes place.  Where’s Oliver?”

Sara began peeling her leather bodysuit off.  “He wanted to give the east side one more run.  Lot of gangbangers over there lately.  Don’t worry – he’ll buzz you if he runs into trouble.”

Nodding, Felicity got back to work, only peripherally aware of the noise Sara was making as she put away her weapons.  When she noticed the other woman again, she had showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt.

Felicity stood up and stretched, wincing at the kinks in her neck and back.  “Yell if anything pings.  I’ll be right back.” 

Ten minutes later, she walked back to her desk to discover Sara gone and Oliver, still dressed as the vigilante, sitting at her desk looking at something on one of the screens.

“Hey.  Did Sara leave?”

Oliver turned slowly to look at her, and his expression stopped her cold and made her belly clench. 

“What is this?”

“What is what?”  she asked slowly.

“Stories about… me.  Since when does the Arrow have a fan site?”

 _No.  No, no, no, no, and no_.  She raced to the monitor and squeaked when she saw one of the stories she’d been reading earlier in the week up on the screen alongside the fan site’s homepage.  And this one, _Caught in the Act_ , was one of the more explicit ones involving the vigilante and a very grateful rescued woman being caught doing things she couldn’t say out loud by a female police officer who then joined in. 

Deadly assassin or not, she was going to kill Sara Lance the next time she saw her.

Pushing Oliver out of the way, she clicked furiously until the pages were gone, her hand trembling slightly.  “I’ve been monitoring the fan site for a few months to make sure no revealing details were out there.”  _Please, please, please ignore what you just saw._

Oliver shifted and then said, his tone incredulous, “And they write sex stories?  How long have you been reading them?”

Closing her eyes, she swallowed hard.  “I just found them about a week ago.  And it’s not like I’ve read _all_ of them.  I mean, somebody has to read them and make sure there’s nothing that could be used to identify you, right?”  Did she really just say that?  That was weaker than Oliver’s energy drink story.  “And I haven’t imagined _anything_ like this – who knew there were so many uses for alleys and rooftops and zip lines and…” her voice trailed off when Oliver stood up.

She expected him to walk away – he was good at that as he’d proven four months ago.  What she didn’t expect was for him to suddenly move into her space.  Her eyes flew open, shocked, because he was way too close.  Disturbingly, heart stoppingly, panty meltingly close.  Was it possible to spontaneously combust from unresolved sexual tension?

If it was then maybe she was already dead since he was looking at her in a way that Oliver Queen never looked at Felicity Smoak.  Gone was the angry, world class brooding he’d been doing all week and in its place was pure, raw physical desire.  There was no mistaking it even if no one had ever looked at her that way in her life. 

He still wore the leather and the grease paint around his eyes though his hood was down, and in the dim lighting of the foundry it was all too easy to imagine a different setting altogether.  Her heart rate picked up, her breathing shallow, and she couldn’t tear her eyes from his.  It was like the last two years had been building to this moment.  But when his hands found her hips and began gliding upwards, she moved back so fast she bumped the desk.

“I have to go,” she blurted, shaking as she grabbed her bag and sped across the room.  She was half afraid he would come after her, but she didn’t look back and he didn’t follow.  She was still trembling slightly when she got to her apartment, and it took her four attempts to get her key into the lock.  Locking the door behind her, she dropped her bag and keys on the nearby table and sank onto the sofa.

She didn’t know how she would be able to go back to the foundry in the morning.  And she really had to – there were no such things as sick days for heroes and their sidekicks unless stitches were involved.  But if she’d thought things were uncomfortable before, she was probably in for the grandmother of awkward situations now.

 _You should have let him kiss you._   She wasn’t sure why she backed up so quickly when she realized what he was going to do.  Kissing Oliver was something she’d imagined a lot, and she wasn’t too proud to admit she still wanted it to happen.  But there was a big difference between fantasy and reality, and living in her head was a lot safer than taking a risk on Oliver Queen.

Thirty minutes later she was still on the sofa when she heard a knock at her door.  She opened her eyes – she didn’t have to look to know who was standing out there because she knew that knock just like she knew so many other things about him.  Felicity considered not answering the door, just ignoring it and going back to her bedroom, alone and safe.  He had a key but she didn’t think he’d use it in this particular situation.

“Felicity please - open the door.”

She couldn’t ignore that.  So she stood and walked across the room, pulling the dead bolt back and unlocking the door on autopilot.  And when she opened it, she didn’t even give him time to say anything before she was pulling him in and kissing him the way she’d wanted to since before she’d known of his penchant for green.

Her arms wound tightly around his neck, and her fingers dug into his hair, still damp from his shower.  This was not the kind of first kiss she’d imagined; it was hot and needy and urgent, and she felt her toes curling in response.  In some distant part of her awareness, she heard the door slam and realized that Oliver had kicked it shut.

Then he was lifting her against the wall, and she wrapped her legs around him.  The insistent push of his hips between her legs caused her to moan and turn her head, panting.  “Oliver…”

“Shh,” he whispered.

Oliver’s lips were against her neck now, and she shivered, throat too dry to speak.  He was locking the door with one hand while the other was gripping her ponytail, pulling slightly.  She realized what he wanted when the band holding her hair back loosened, and the blonde strands spilled across her shoulders. 

They stared at each other, lips barely a breath apart.  Oliver closed the tiny gap, kissing her slowly, and the scrape of his stubble against her cheek was so delicious she wondered what it would feel like in other places.  That thought elicited another moan.

He cupped the back of her head in a soothing gesture and pressed tiny kisses against her neck before leaning his forehead against hers.  “We should…”

“I don’t want to talk.”  Her voice was shaky, and she took a shuddering breath.  She kissed his jaw and then his neck, tightening her legs around him.  Talking was something they’d probably have to do a lot of tomorrow, but right now she just wanted to feel.

They were moving again, and then they were in her bedroom.  She stood on wobbly legs when he set her down, and they undressed each other in silence.  The light from the living room spilled into the dark bedroom just enough to create a soft glow - just enough for her to see every imperfect inch of flesh revealed.  Imperfect, but perfect for her.

Oliver walked her back to the bed and followed her down, careful to keep his full weight off of her.  That first moment of skin against skin, hard against soft, almost overwhelmed her.  She had to dig her nails into his arms to brace herself - tether herself to the moment before she floated away and realized this wasn’t real after all.

But it was real.  Oliver’s lips on hers, against her neck, the wet suction of his mouth against her breast – all real.  His hand following the curve of her hip down and between her legs – real.  His fingers probed carefully, and she moved her thighs further apart as his lips found hers.

Then those perfect lips were gone, moving south again.  It crossed her mind, briefly, that she should feel embarrassed about what was going to happen because she always had before.  But she didn’t, too turned on to feel anything but pleasure at the first swipe of his tongue against her sensitive flesh.

She came hard bare minutes later, a quivering mass of nerve endings.  She felt him pull back followed by a tearing sound – the condom, probably.  As he moved over her once more, pulling her legs up, she tensed a little in anticipation of that first, uncomfortable moment of penetration.

It didn’t come; instead he brushed against her in little teasing movements, and she opened her eyes to look at him.  He was watching her, gauging each shudder as he rocked against her, giving her time to come down slowly.  When she felt ready, she tilted her hips, allowing him to slide in halfway with the first thrust.

There was no distance between them at all.  Oliver had one arm behind her head and the other bracing her hips as they moved against each other, every inch of their bodies pressing and sliding and creating friction.  He kept the pace steady at first, his lips everywhere – her mouth, her cheek, her neck, the curve of her shoulder.

Gradually the pace changed, becoming more impatient as they neared completion.  Her legs tightened about his waist, and she shuddered again and cried out when he suddenly pushed one leg higher, changing the angle of penetration just enough to send her over the edge within seconds.

Stars danced in her vision, and Felicity held onto him tighter, unable to stop the tears trickling from the corners of her eyes.  His face was against her neck now, his own breathing harsh and uneven as his hips jerked against hers, and a low groan signaled his own release moments later.

Felicity sniffled, and he raised his head to look at her.  “Hey.  Are you okay?”

She opened her eyes when his fingertips brushed her damp temples, nodding but still not ready to speak.  His lips pressed against her forehead for a moment before he pulled out and away, and Felicity curled onto her side.  Oliver returned quickly and slid behind her, pulling her into his hard frame.

Her brain was beginning to catch up now.  “I can’t believe I slept with you before we ever went on a date.”

“We’ve been on dates,” he replied, his hand moving idly against her thigh.

“When?  And if you say that’s what we were doing after I got out of the hospital six months ago, I’m probably going to hit you with my pillow,” she replied indignantly.  “You never called it anything, Oliver.  I was too afraid to ask, and then you just… stopped.  No warning, no explanation.”

He sighed.  “I’m sorry.”  When she didn’t reply, he moved until he was hovering above her again and there was no way to hide from him.

“Why?”

“I was worried,” he finally said.  “About hurting you, about exposure, about your connection to me making you a target.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that hitting the brakes like that might hurt me?”  Honestly, he was so dense about so many things.  “What’s different now?”

“I can’t turn it off anymore,” he replied softly.  “I don’t even want to try.”

“So it wasn’t the Arrow porn on my computer?” she asked, a sudden hint of teasing in her tone, and she was pleased when he laughed.  She wanted to make him laugh a lot more – he deserved that.  “And for the record, I was not reading sex stories on the job.  Sara must have opened the sites before she left, hoping you would find them.”

“Really?”  His tone was skeptical.  “And how did she know about them?”

Felicity blushed.  “Okay fine – I was reading them last weekend, and she caught me.  Last Friday was the first night I found them.”

“Last Friday,” he mused, dropping his head to kiss her again.  “That makes sense.  And Saturday…”

He was frowning now, and she raised her hand to smooth his brow.  “What’s wrong?”

“Are you seeing him again?” 

“Who?”

“Eric,” he said shortly. 

“I haven’t seen Eric in months,” Felicity reminded him, confused.  “He broke up with me right after I got out of the hospital.”

Oliver relaxed.  “Sara strikes again.  She told me that’s who you were seeing last Saturday.  And then you made the comments about staying in bed on Sunday.”

“Oh.  _Oh_ – no.  I was with Sara last Saturday.  We saw a movie and had a late dinner.”  Suddenly this week made a lot more sense.  “You were jealous?  Is that why you were behaving like I broke your favorite bow all week?  And to be fair, you’re out with women all the time, Oliver – that stops now, by the way.”

Oliver kissed her again.  “I’m sorry.  Maybe I didn’t have the right to be jealous.  And as for my dates, I haven’t been with anyone in months.” 

Huh.  “How many months?”

Kissing her temple, he answered quietly, “Six.  Not since you were in the hospital.”

“Oh.”  Something loosened inside her, a tiny knot of doubt she’d been trying to ignore.

He rolled onto his back and pulled her with him.  Her head found the curve of his shoulder, one arm across his chest, and his hand drew gentle patterns against her back.

“Don’t think I’m going to be this easy again,” she said with a yawn.  “You have to ask me out on a date – one where you ask nicely and I say yes, and then we make a plan and follow it, and I talk you to death until you decide to kiss me to shut me up.”

“I think I can handle that,” he said affectionately, squeezing her hip.  A few moments later his breathing evened out, and she could tell he was asleep. 

But Felicity lay awake for a while, basking in the warmth of his body and the afterglow.  When a beeping sound drew her attention, she realized it was coming from the tablet on her bedside table.  Careful not to wake Oliver, she reached for it.

A message box popped up from Sara. 

_Sara:   So?_

_Felicity:   I can’t believe you did that.  There is a serious talk about boundaries in our future._

_Sara:   You’re welcome._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So apparently I’m incapable of writing simple smut lol – my poor little PWP one shot is a full blown universe now. Future installments include ‘Five Times Oliver Crashed Felicity’s Dates (and One Time She Crashed His)’ which was requested by quisinart4 at FF, ‘Sick Days’ which will tell the story of how Felicity ended up in the hospital and how that affected Oliver, and ‘Fives Times Oliver Took Felicity on a Date (and One Time It Was Real.)’ These will all take place during the eight months before this story, except for the very last date story – that one is their first date following this story. I’m also toying with the idea of doing a ‘Series of Firsts’ either in this universe or just separately. We’ll see what inspires me. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This was born of me being home sick – it’s a two-parter, and the second part is rated M. It will be up probably tomorrow (I get nervous when I edit smut because it’s not the easiest thing for me to write.) No beta so let me know if you see any big errors here. Thanks to smoakandarrow on Tumblr for suggesting the title – she also suggested ‘Red Handed’ so I made that one of the fan fic titles on the website Felicity was looking at.
> 
> There will also be two prequels in this universe because once I fleshed out the story, I found I wanted to tell the backstory. ‘Sick Days’ will tell the story of Felicity landing in the hospital after attempting to stop a mugging (which is what started Oliver showing up at her apartment.) That will be followed by ‘Five Times Oliver Took Felicity on a Date (and the One Time It Was Real)’ in which I’ll cover five of their dates over those two months mentioned in this story. The last date will fall into the time period after this story. Hopefully that’s clear :)


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